Knitting through my stash

Through the years, by means of over-ambitious buying and the thoughtful generosity of other over-ambitious buyers, I have accumulated a very large amount of yarn. My yarn collection (for that is what it is) has slowly taken over the empty storage spaces dedicated to other things, it has crept into areas it does not belong, it is now like sand after going to the beach - found in strange and uncomfortable places in my house. This is not good. Yarn is meant to be used and made into something, not simply protected in cedar chests or plastic bins.

Because of this over-abundance I put a moratorium on yarn buying. This has not been extremely successful.

I have continued to receive yarn gifts and have (occasionally) purchased sweater amounts of yarn (which I turned into a State Fair blue ribbon so it's ok right?) If someone offers me beautiful yarn I can't say no. That would be silly...Perhaps I need a 12 step program. Anyway, my point here is not how to accumulate yarn but how to use it.

I am using it. Slowly. The problem with having a large stash of random yarns is that you need a lot of little projects, or big projects that use a lot of different yarn. Sometimes matching yarn and patterns is not so easy. Sometimes your amounts are off, leading you to buy more yarn to finish projects thereby defeating the purpose of using stash yarn to make things.

Once in a while though, life and the yarn collection meet and make beautiful music. Recently my dishwasher broke. Major bummer. I thought I would go insane or end up divorcing my husband. Neither of those things has come to pass (and my kitchen is actually a little bit cleaner due to the conscious diligence of washing dishes immediately after use because there is no handy machine to do it for me). Initially, when the dishwasher broke, amongst the gut wrenching fear of an avalanche of breakables was the sinking feeling that I did not have any decent wash cloths. My old wash cloths had been used and abused enough to have all been tossed out or otherwise re-purposed. I had a crusty old dish brush but that was only really good for frying pans that I didn't really care about the actual cleanliness of(is that gross?) Then I remembered (EUREKA!) that years ago, in one of my over-ambitious purchases, I had gotten something like six balls of cotton yarn - plain cotton, generally used for dishcloths. So the past couple of weeks I have made it my project to knit it all. Turn it all into dishcloths. I'm knitting it until it's gone, come hell or high water. My dishcloth pile is satisfyingly large and while the work is not extraordinarily challenging it is definitely making life better....yes, I kind of feel like a grandma, but whatever. It's also inspiring! What can I make next from just the yarn I already have? Great things, I'm sure!

A Travelin'

Everybody needs a traveling project. This is mine. It's a scarf. A Florida scarf, mostly because I made it in Florida, and because it kind of looks like south Florida: flat, even, green and a little yellow

Traveling requires a different kind of knitting project. It calls for one you can do while you're worried whether your flight is going to take off or not, one you can do while severely confined on a plane, and one you can easily do at the beach or poolside. A tall order. This one fit the bill. It's 260 stitches in garter stitch, made of variegated Norwegian wool that I cannot pronounce the name of and Kidsilk Mohair.Turned out all right I think.

I

Hibernation

It's cold.

It's dark.

I am in hibernation mode.

It seems like everything is a little bit harder and more demanding than normal, driving is terrible, taking out the garbage requires a full suit up - parka and boots, even walking is treacherous. Mostly that just means I'm even less motivated than normal to do anything but sit on the couch. Bad for my waistline, but good for my knitting projects.

My current project is the Puffin Sweater by Kate Davies. I'm not making any modifications and I'm staying pretty true to the original color scheme. I even knitted and blocked the swatches as directed. I think experience has made me more humble when it comes to making changes. Although sometimes they work out well I don't think I actually have all of the experience I need to make them turn out great every time. It's cliche but the older you get the more you understand how little you know. Sometimes I wonder what my arrogant 20 year old self would think of me.

At least the sweater is going faster than I expected, especially since it's knitted on size 3.0mm needles, and I am pleased with the result so far. Hopefully this time the finished product will fit and I won't lose my mind sewing in all of those ends! And maybe I'll be done with it before next winter...

Bad Gauge

I've never paid much attention to the gauge called for in patterns. I've always figured that if I used the right needles and the right size yarn it would be close enough.

I was wrong.

I have learned that yarn doesn't always play nice, like, it grows when you wash it. I believe the technical term for this is "bloom" and I don't like it.

I made a beautiful sweater that I swatched before I started so I knew the gauge was pretty close. However to get a really accurate picture of your own gauge on any given project you have to knit a gauge swatch, and take the time to block it. Blocking it, apparently, is critical. My lovely Silky Wool sweater fit perfectly straight off the needles, then I decided to wash and block it. Big mistake. It stretched out and now would be more appropriate for someone else. Sad.

I looked it up, only after I washed it of course, and found that this particular yarn tends to stretch and the recommended mode of blocking is the pin and spritz method. Boo. If I would have blocked the swatch I would have known that. Dang.

Ah well, live and learn. I will from here on out be blocking all of my swatches.

Hopefully the days of ill fitting items are gone. I will have to exercise my fortitude muscles to do this, but it seems it is not worth it to skip the swatch step.

2014

It's 2014 already! What happened?

I guess the earth kept spinning and flying around the sun. These things are to be expected but they seem to have caught me by surprise.

2014!
I'm 34! (Seriously? Is it possible? Not very glamorous.)
My child is turning 3!
I will be married for 10(!) years in June!

Time keeps chugging along.

I'm not really making resolutions this year but I have goals. My goal is to do more stuff - write more, read more, make stuff (Sweaters! Soap! Beer!), exercise. And to be more consistent about doing that stuff. Doing stuff is what makes life fun. And if there is one thing I like in life it's fun.

Pie

I been blessed with one amazing gift in life...and it is pie.

I make killer pie.

Fruit pie, custard pie, savory pie, if I make it, it is good. I know it is very un-midwesternly of me to say it but, even I think it is delicious-really good, and in fact, I want to eat a whole one myself. I think the secret is my crust - which is light and flaky and deliciously flavorful.

I'm not telling you the secret ingredient in my crust, because, obviously, it's a secret. I will however tell you my pie crust tricks.

1. DO NOT OVERMIX. Do not overmix the crust. This is paramount. The best pie crusts have striations of fat that are visible like the marbling on grade A beef. Have faith. It may not look pretty but it will probably be good. If you saw most of my crusts coming out of the mixer you would probably be shocked. Plus if you mix it too much you start to develop the gluten in the flour and your crust becomes tough and not tasty. Yuck.

2. Keep it COLD. Make sure you have chilled your pie crust before you roll it out. It will be three times as difficult to roll out and turn out twice as bad if it is warm. It is far more likely to fall apart and will be very difficult to handle if you skip the chilling step. I like to chill my crust in the freezer for months...or at least 2 hours before I roll it out.

3. FLOUR. Use a lot as you roll it out. Don't believe what they say about lightly coating the surface with flour, heavily coat it - in fact load it up with flour. You are probably not going to get too much unless you're balling it up and re-rolling it more than three times and if you're doing that you probably haven't done either of the above. Stop. Stick the dough in the fridge and then try again.

4. As you roll out your crust FLIP IT. Especially at the beginning. Flip it a lot. I flip it every couple of swipes with a rolling pin, or if you see it start to catch as you roll it. Do this by rolling the far edge over the rolling pin and back towards you - use the rolling pin as sort of a frame to brace the dough on.And make sure you keep your surface well floured. If you do this you coat the surface with a good layer of flour making it very easy to handle and unlikely to pull apart or stick to your work surface.

There you have it. My pie wisdom. Minus my secret ingredient of course. :)
Happy making!!

North Coaster

It says a lot about my spring that I have graduated to knitting coasters. Drink coasters to protect my new end tables. They're quite fashionable, in a lovely hue, made out of terribly itchy yarn that I won't wear. They also require absolutely no thought, in fact I can mostly make them without looking which is nice. It's taking my love for small simple projects to a new level, maybe not a great level but a new level.

What's causing this obsession with simplicity and mindless ease? Fatigue, stress, cabin fever. Not the worst things that could happen to a person, but enough to make me not want to try to figure out which pattern row I'm on and which decrease to do in the lacy sweater-vest I'm making for myself.

I pretty much just feel like I need a vacation...for like, six months. Or maybe only a part time job. Since I can't have either of those things right now I must resort to knitting coasters. And drinking wine. It works.